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Barry woke to a dull pain in… every part of him. Just as always. He was sure to anyone else, the pain he was feeling would be sharp and scream-worthy, but Barry was used to it. And the left over traces of the morphine helped. His metabolism had burned most of it off by now and he would probably need another dose in a few hours, but for now he could function without crumpling to the ground and screaming.

God, it was a good thing his younger self wasn't flung forward to this timeline with the rest of the team. He would probably have a stroke if that kind of stress was suddenly forced on him.

Barry sat bolt up right. That's right. The team. Iris, Joe, Cisco, Caitlin, H.R., Wally, Julian… they were all here. All those years ago when they disappeared, when they left him alone, this is where they came.

Barry felt like laughing for some reason. But at the same time, he felt like crying, too. He had missed them so much. He had been so lost without them, become something he knew they wouldn't be proud of, but he didn't care. So long as they were back.

Barry sprang to his feet. "Gideon, yesterday… it actually happened right? It wasn't a hallucination from the morphine, was it?"

"You have to be more specific," she informed him. "Yes, yesterday happened, but what part of yesterday are you referring to?"

"You know what part!" he exclaimed, even though the AI probably didn't. She was a machine, even if she seemed so life like and had been his only friend for years. She sometimes told him when he needed to be more specific that she didn't understand the question. "My team," Barry sighed. "Cisco Ramon, Caitlin Snow, Iris West, Joe West… all of them. They're actually here, aren't they?"

"Yes, they are," she replied.

"I have to go see them," he said urgently.

"Barry, shouldn't you remove the needle from your arm first?" she asked.

"What?" he glanced down and saw the needle he used to inject himself with morphine last night still in his vein. He was lucky it didn't tear out with all his fast movements.

"Oh," he murmured. "Thanks, Gideon."

"You're welcome," she replied. Perhaps Barry was still slightly under the influence of the morphine, but Gideon sounded amused.

Barry slid the needle out of his arm and dashed into the cortex at super speed, blue lightning in his wake.

His team was already up, having not had drugs helping keep them down.

"'Morning, Barry," Iris said. She sounded a little hesitant. This Barry was different. It was so odd seeing him racing around with blue lightning, sadness lingering in his eyes no matter what expression he took. He was still her Barry, she still loved him, but part of her was worried that maybe he didn't love her back.

Her fears were placated when he pulled her into his arms, engulfing her in a tight hug, so strong it felt like his arms were made of iron and she would never break free. But that didn't matter. She didn't want to.

"Good morning, Iris," he said softly, a hint of happiness in his voice.

He released her after a few moments. Part of Barry was tempted to pull them all into a desperate group hug, but he refrained from doing so.

"Hey, Barry?" Cisco asked. "Not to be rude, but do you have anything to eat? I'm starving."

Barry hesitated. "All I have are bars. Like, 3000 calorie each bars."

"That's going to be a problem," Caitlin said.

"Yeah," he said. "Sorry, I just… I never thought I'd see any of you again and I never have any company, unless you count Gideon; Gideon is great company. She's amazing, when she's not being sassy. Okay, she's amazing then too. Anyway,IjustneverthoughtIwouldhaveanyoneliving withmehereagainsoIneverbotheredgettingfood,unlessyoucounttheingredientsImakethebarswith,becausetherewasnopointifnoonewasgoingtoeatit-"

"Barry!" Caitlin exclaimed, stopping his rapid speedster talk. "We didn't get any of that after Gideon is amazing. Slower, please."

"You get any of that?" Joe asked Wally.

Wally was staring at Barry with wide eyes. "About every fifth word. I heard something about ingredients."

Barry sighed. "Okay, there's a guy I know that I can get supplies from. I just never thought I would need to trade him for food minus the ingredients I make the bars with because I never thought I'd see any of you ever again or have any sort of company ever again, because people always die or leave you, so what's the point, right?"

They all stared at him, horrified.

"Right, I'm going to go see that guy now," Barry said, about to zip out of there.

"Wait!" Iris called. "Why don't we go with you?"

"Iris, the streets tend to be pretty dangerous," Barry said.

"And since when have we run from danger?" Joe asked with a small chuckle.

"I guess you have a point. Alright," he said, though he was still hesitant to let his friends and family out into apocalyptic streets when he just got them back. "Let's go."

Barry zipped the team to the underground bunker his supplier guy, August, lived. Barry didn't know where August got all these supplies. Maybe August stole it from people, maybe he started hoarding it before the world collapsed completely and had been stashing it here ever since, who knew? All that mattered was somehow he did and Barry had learned not to question everything in a world where the one goal was to survive. Besides, getting supplies from August was easier than getting them from anyone else who had been lucky enough to somehow get their hands on food or medicine and was willing to trade. August was once a doctor; there was only one thing he wanted and Barry had plenty of it.

"Flash," August greeted him as he heard the familiar whoosh of air. He turned around, eyes widening as he saw everyone with the blue-clad speedster. "And… friends? Since when do you have friends?"

"Never mind that, August," Barry said. "Point is, my friends can't eat my three-thousand calorie bars. They need food that won't make them sick."

"Or fat," Caitlin murmured.

August nodded. "Well, the price is one blood draw for every ten cans of food."

"Blood draw?" Julian asked. "You want our blood?"

"No, I want his," August gestured to Barry. "Unless any of you are metas?"

"Nope, totally not," H. R. said, shaking his head rapidly.

Barry flashed H. R. a look that clearly said to let him do the talking. August was already eyeing H. R. suspiciously.

"No, they aren't," Barry lied. He knew Caitlin, Cisco, and Wally were metas, but August didn't need to know that unless it was absolutely necessary. Beside, it was better he take his blood then theirs. "Gideon already scanned them when we met. They're all completely human. Right, Gideon?"

"Yes, Flash," Gideon said, appearing as a blue hologram on his wrist as she spoke.

August nodded, not realizing that Barry's AI was capable of lying so long as Barry asked her to.

"Why do you want the Flash's blood?" Joe asked. He was tempted to shoot this August character. He stole Barry's blood solely because he was a meta? Was he experimenting on his son?

"Metahuman blood is remarkable," August said. "I study it for my own reasons. Do you want the cans of food or not?"

"Yes, they do," Barry said, already rolling up his sleeve to expose his thick blue veins. No matter how many times he or August drove a needle into them, his accelerated healing kept his veins healthy and easy to find.

"They're in the back room, through the locked metal door," August tossed Cisco the keys. "How many blood draws will I be taking?"

"Ten," Barry said.

"One hundred cans, then," August said, sliding the needle into Barry's arm.

AN: I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this chapter, but I do have an idea of where I am going with this story and this chapter had to happen. The introduction of August is important as well as the explanation as to how Barry gets all his supplies to make his morphine and bars and how he is going to get his friends food in a ruined world. Anyway, let me know what you all think.

-DragonsintheMoonlight